The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1887-06-10

tain. The sound Of CANNON nesr b,
gave warning that within . few min
utes the cQnaict would open again. M
matter. It wae the day for some cor
OF report to one Of the Warrington de
partments. and regimental and com
pany con- manders found themselves Il
q terrible dilemma. Either they mus,
neglect the military needs Of the mo.
ment and send OF men to the Wagon
train for the accounts, and then-per,
haps within cannon range Of the enemy
balance up. or ..cook up" q lot 81
columns Of figures, or their name.
would 90 to the paymaster-general'i
Office a. debtors for the full money
value Of all the innumerable thing
which these returns were meant e
cover. When a soldier wanted q pail
OF shoes he spoke to his sar.
geant, who spoke to his com.
pany commander, who made
out q requisition on the quartermaster,
who s'issued" the shoes to the officer,
taking the officers receipt In triplicate.
The soldier then signed his name in
the company clothing book for one
pair 1T shoes. Every month that
officer made a report In triplicate to
the quartermaster general at Washing
ton. accounting for all clothing received
by him from the regimental quarter
master and issued by him to the men
of his company during the month, and
in a column of these triplicate returns
the original signatures -three times
signed, of course-of the soldiers were
written opposite the articles they had
received. II the soldier had died, de-
serted. been captured, killed, or been
sent off to the hospital during the
month, his signature must, neverthe-
less. be somehow obtained, or else its
absence be explained by the sworn
statement of the officer, and of two
witnesses who had means of knowing
the accuracy of the officers statement.
The same held good for all camp
equipage, and for arms, accoutrements
and ammunition.
Destruction and loss IRE essentials of
war. A body of troops, let 1t be sup
posed, are moving in skirmishing order
throughout a tangled wood, advancing
or r~etreating under a severe fire of the
enemy. Every instant men are falling,
dead or wounded, or are tripped up; or
their requirements are caught by
hanging vines or by whisking
branches and torn off or rem.
dered worthless. Suppose this sort
of service to continue for weeks. as it
did in Virginia in the summer of 1864.
1t is easy TO perceive how knapsacks,
cantecns, accoutremcnts and arms, or
parts of these, would be lost, destroyed
OF MISUNDERSTANDING lost to one
company and afterward picked up and
put to use by another. But according
to the red tape system of army regu-
%lations the company officer was COM
PEELED to tell-or to profess to tell
under oath in his returns just how,
when and where all these odds and
ends disappeared. and he was also
compelled to produce witnesses to
swear that he was not perjuring HIM
self. Was ever anything Of tho kind
more d~emoralizing to all concernedP
Unless the officer could make his fig-
ures lie, and lie boldly, yet skillfully,
he could get no pay.
A few instances will illustrate the
folly of the system. AT the battle of
Gettysburg an excellent officer COM
manding a company was shot in the
leg. AS he limped off he was seen to
stoop and pick up an abandoned mus
ket, then another and another, until,
as he disappeared from view, he had
an armful. When afterward ques.
toned as to what he was doing at that
time he explained, with a natural
enough air, that he had intended to
..turn over" those muskets to an ord
nance officer in the rear, if he should
meet one, taking his recelpt-in tripli
cate, of course-so as to be ssahead''
for his next ordnance return. The same
year a captain of the writer's acquaint-
ance was .short'' on his quartermaster
account for some shelter tents
and canteens. Not that he had lost,
stolen or eaten them up. but they were
gone somehow; unavoidably lost or
abandoned by his men. To balance
his reports, therefore, the captain took
half as many new tents and canteens
as were missing, tore each of these
tents in two, and broke each of these
c~anteens in two, and then calling for
the brigade inspector took the inspec-
tors voucher for each of these rags
and pieces as being each and severally
the injured remains of a whole. OF
course, the government lost by the de-
struction, but the returns were prop
erly balanced. Here is another. At
the opening of the Wilderness CAM
paign a lieutenant. who had been on
recruiting service, returned to his regi-
ment and company just as the army
had broken up its winter quarters to
cross the Rapidan river. The captain
commanding the company to which the
lieutenant belonged, while playing foot
ball that day, had sprained his ankle
and was ordered back to Washington
to hospital. The lieutenant assumed
command and, in the hurried moments
at their disposal, signed receipts to the
captain-in triplicate of course-for
the government properly which the
captain then and there turned
over to him by invoice-also
in ~triplicate. That cleared the
| captain. who went to the hospital.